Bridal Party Surprise Projects

My Bridal Party Cards came in the mail! YAY! :)
But my hoodie has not yet...And I don't know when it is going to come in. :(

So I am going to start filling these cards out and sending them out to our Bridal Party members. I am so excited, because we haven't told anyone who is in yet...So I hope when they each receive their card they will be excited too!

I bought these cute pink pails to make surprise gifts for each of my bridesmaids, along with their cards of course.
I bought that glitter spray to jazz up the pails.

I am planning on writing "Christina's Bridesmaid" and then each of their names on the pail, too. And maybe some other decorations too, I am not sure yet.
I don't want them to look cheap, crappy, corny, or babyish. So we'll see how they come out.

I also bought candy melts and molds to make candy to put in my girls' pails...One of the molds has a diamond ring, so I thought those would make appropriate candies. They make a lot of wedding molds, but I didn't get any of those yet.
I also got a 'girl' cookie cutter that I thought I could make bridesmaid cookies with.

I don't know what else I want to put in the pails besides homemade personalized cookies and candy.

Maybe some Mary Kay hand lotions or lip glosses or something.
Why yes, I did used to be a Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant, how did you guess?


So yeah, those are my projects for right now.
I know I will have plenty more to come.

And I love it!
I crave being crafty...So this excites me. :)

E Session Drama

I have several friends who do photography on the side. So prior to getting engaged, I have been secretly hoping all along that we would have no problem getting someone to help us out with Engagement Photographs.

I was hoping this could help cut costs. I wasn't expecting to get them for free...I am willing to pay them for their time and gas money or whatever. And they don't even have to print the photos out, they can just give us a digital copy and we can print them or whatever.

But for one reason or another, no one seems to want to take the pictures.

Supposedly it isn't about the money...

Because some of these people don't usually get paid for their photography anyway!

But I must admit, most of them they do have relevant valid reasons for not being able to help us out...(Broken arm, too busy, broken camera, etc.)

My Mom said we can just go to Sears or wherever, just to get a couple of professional shots done.

But I really got my hopes up for having some cute outdoorsy photos...More than just some stiff indoor staged photos with fake backdrops.

I am very picky when it comes to photos of myself. I rarely ever like how I look in pictures. I always seem to find something to nitpick about.

I really don't think that Jon and I have a decent picture of us.

But my thoughts are that if someone were to take candid shots of us walking around or just like naturally gazing at each other, they might look a ton better...And more believable.

I think for now though we are just going to go to JCPenney (or wherever) Portrait Studio and get a couple of (hopefully) cute pictures of us taken. At the very least, this will finally give us a picture we both (hopefully) look good in.

And then we can have a good picture of us to put in the newspapers for our announcement.

And maybe if we like the picture enough we can consider using it for the Save-The-Dates or Invitations.

Like I said, if not, we will just have a good picture of us that commemorate a very special time in our lives.

And you can never have too many photographs!! EVER!! :)

I did start contacting some vendors yesterday about prices for STDs and Invitations...But if the portrait studio can do some STDs, it might just make life easier to go through them.

And if in the future, it works out that someone will help take some cute outdoorsy photographs as well, then that will just be the best of both worlds!

I am trying to look on the bright side...And I think it is working! :)

...

I don't handle stress well...I stress out and get overwhelmed very easily...
I have never been a big fan of making decisions...About anything...

With Jon wanting to be one of those "just tell me the date and time and I'll be there" kinds of grooms...I may very well have a heart attack.

Why did I used to think that planning my wedding was fun....Maybe it was before it was real. Because I didn't have a budget and all.
Now I can't even enjoy it...I am too busy hyperventilating, trying not to cry, and hiding under my covers.

When I came home today, I actually had my first slight panic attack, complete with crying during dinner...Fantastic!



And one other thing...They make all these things that are supposed to make Brides-to-be's lives easier...But, well, look:



That whole stack of 5 rows and the one bottom row to the left of it, are all wedding planning type books. I think it took me about an hour tonight to decide on one to buy.




And that, that my friends, are about 6 rows of bridal magazines.
I would say that is like at least 40 different magazines to chose from. Yeah, is that all?



How are giving me all of these extra decisions supposed to make my life easier?
These stress relieving tools are actually stressing me out more!

:'(


This is SO not how I pictured my wedding planning going...

"In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." ~ Benjamin Franklin

I always knew that weddings were expensive...But, HOLY COW! Weddings are expensive!!

We've only been engaged a week...And I really haven't slept much all week.

All I really do now is stress about wedding plans, and of course, about money.

See, I lived on Long Island for the first 18 years of my life...

My fiancé is from the country, and has no interest in ever visiting Long Island.

He does not understand where my over-the-top expensive taste comes from.

I cannot help it...I come from a place where it is common to think big and have extravagantly expensive parties and items, whether you can realistically afford them or not!

Might be dumb, but it's life as I knew it.

I am really not high maintenance...I just know what I like...And what I like usually ends up coming with a big price tag.

But no, I do not always get what I want...And for the most part, I am usually alright with that.

(See? I am really NOT your stereotypical snotty spoiled Long Island brat!)

With that being said, I always grew up dreaming of my huge elaborate perfect wedding.

And I always said that if I had to take out a $50,000 (or more) loan to ensure the wedding of my dreams, then so be it.

It was always a given that once you get engaged, you have a huge fancy engagement party. Nothing to outdo the wedding of course, but still a decent party.

As of late, I am really rethinking my views.

Especially with Jon and I shelling out all of this money by ourselves...And of course wanting to purchase our first home sometime in the nearish future, too...

Makes me think of all of the frivolous spending I was willing to do...And now realize how dumb it seems.

At first I was upset when Jon couldn't care less about having an engagement party...But now I have come to see how unimportant wasting money on one really probably is.

I think that there are a lot of my original plans for my dream wedding that I will be needing to cut out.

Some of which I am surprisingly fine with.

Some of which will take time for me to be fine with.

In the end, I will appreciate not ending up in the poor house, in order to fund my dream wedding.

I imagine with some creativity and careful planning, we will (hopefully) pull off a pretty nice wedding on our less than dream budget.

~*~*The Proposal*~*~

So inquiring minds have been wondering how exactly Jon proposed to me.
So here is the story...


Saturday night was our 28th Monthiversary...We don't always celebrate every monthiversary, but decided to go out to a fancy restaurant that we never went to before.
And after dinner I kept saying that we should go bowling. Because my Boot Camp trainer had paid for all of the members to go bowling that night...So I figured we should go and take advantage of the free activity. I couldn't figure out why Jon kept saying "no, let's just go home."

So we had a wonderful dinner and then when back to our apartment and just got comfy on the couch and watched whatever random TV shows were on.
Then Jon randomly got up and sat at his computer and started screwing around on it. When I asked him what he was doing, he said, "oh nothing, just messing around."
So I started to get really pissed. And I was all like, "Hi I am over here...Why are you ignoring me?!"

And then all of a sudden he starts blasting music from his computer.
And at that point I was seriously confused and getting aggravated and wondering why he is blasting music when we were trying to watch TV. So then he just sits back down on the couch like nothing happened. So we just sit there staring at the TV, since we can't hear it over the blasting music.

Then some sweet songs come on and he started to tell me why each of them make him think of me or what the significance of the song is in our relationship, and the sentimentalness of the song, etc.

So I am pretty impressed and just couldn't stop thinking about how sweet that was, because he never really shows much emotion about anything...Except maybe cars. Hehe

So then as the songs progressively got sweeter, he randomly got up and said "I'm going to go use the bathroom."
So I was just like, "Ummm okay, thanks for the announcement."

And so I am just sitting there on the couch alone, listening to romantic songs...When OUR SONG came on. And all I could think of was, "Oh great! I want to slow dance to our song, and he is using the bathroom!"
So I turned around to see if maybe he was coming out of the bathroom so I could grab him and dance before the song ended...And he was standing there with a dozen red roses!!

I was so shocked, I was just like, "I thought you were in the bathroom!"
He was like, "No, that is just what I told you." And I'm just sitting there staring at him, trying to figure out why he has roses. And he was like, "Aren't you going to come get your roses?"
So I was like, "Oh right!"
So I get up and take the roses from him...And that's when he revealed something he had hidden behind his back.
He was holding an Easter basket that I had given him two years ago.
And he handed the basket to me and I see that it had my pink boa in it as well as 'Shrek 3' on DVD. Since that was the movie we saw on our first date.
So I was like, "Wow that is so sweet that you remembered all of this sentimental stuff!"

And then he goes, "Is there something else in the basket?"
And I was like, "I don't know...Is there?"

So I dug around my boa and pull out a small box wrapped in white wrapping paper with white ribbon and a white bow.
So I was just standing there in shock, and holding the box.
Finally he goes, "Open it."
So I start freaking out and shaking like crazy as I unwrapped the box. All I could think was, "If this is a ring I am going to start crying...If It is not a ring, I am going to be pissed that he tricked me!"
So I unwrap the box and reveal a white box. So then he takes the white box from me and reveals a burgundy ring box.
And then he got down on his left knee and opened up the burgundy ring box...
With tears in his eyes, he looked up at me, revealed a ring with numerous huge diamonds, and asked, "Will you marry me?"

Between tears I answered "I'll think about it."

In which he replied, "Yeah I am sure this is a really tough decision for you."

And then I of course said "Yes" right away.

And we hugged for so long, while he was still holding the ring in the box...And he finally said, "Don't you want to put the ring on?"

And then he put the ring on my left ring finger...And that was that. We were engaged!


And the rest of the night I had to keep pinching my arm to see if I was dreaming or if it was real.

And I am very happy to report that it was indeed real. :)

After the proposal was over, I positioned everything in the exact location where we were standing. :)

My First Wedding Purchase and Projects!

So I have my first Wedding Purchases and Projects to announce! :)


Yesterday I splurged and bought myself the pink "Soon To Be Mrs. Hines" diamond hoodie that I couldn't stop talking about!

I am soooo excited to start wearing that!

I also bought these:



How freakin' cute are those cards?!
I Love them and just had to get them!

As of today, Jon and I finally picked out our Bridal Party (Yay! Our first Wedding decision done!) And we want to tell our friends who we chose...But I really want to wait for these cards to come in the mail...And I feel like they won't be in for like 1 1/2 months! Because they were ordered with the hoodie that will take a while because of the customization and all.

Jon was like, "I was just going to call my guys to tell them." But I want to use the cute cards. :(
So maybe we will just end up telling everyone...And also send the cards when they come in...Since I already paid of the cards.

I also would love to do some special gathering for my girls and ask them in a memorable way...Especially since some of them need to meet each other for the first time.
So I will brainstorm and figure something out.


On Monday I bought a shadow box to keep all of the memorabilia from the engagement in. I want to be able to display them forever. When I got the box home, I saw that it was chipped and I went back yesterday to get a new one.



You can't really see the shadow box I bought, because it is covered by all of the engagement related stickers that I bought for decorations.
Yesterday I also started drying out the dozen roses that Jon gave me with the proposal. I will put some or all of the roses in the box, along with the wrapping paper and bow that wrapped up my ring's box when he gave it to me.

Also, the day after we got engaged we went to my parent's house and my parent's had surprised us with a bottle of champagne...And my Mom had us drink from their good crystal, that I have never seen used in any of my 24 years.
Well, my Grandfather accidentally dropped his glass and the stem snapped off of the glass. So I decided instead of being pissed and throwing it out, like my parents were, I will glue it back together because it was a clean break. And I will tie the ribbon from my ring box around the crack of the stem, and you will never know it broke! And I will display that crystal flute in my shadow box as well.

Yeah, I am just a sentimental sap.



And for my last project I made my Halloween costume:



I was going to get a Godzilla mask and gloves and a big fake diamond ring to put over the Godzilla hand..And wear a veil.
But then I decided that would be a big waste of money, since I would never get to reuse any of that.
So instead I made a Bridezilla shirt, that I will wear again. So that seemed like a better use of money.



Last but not least, a quick story.
My Mother went to the library yesterday and took out every wedding related book they had.
Not to mention how out-dated they all were.



The first thing I said to her?
"Thanks for calling me an idiot."

I know she didn't really call me an idiot, but the book she got mocked me.

:-P
Oh, and the library called tonight, other wedding books she put on hold are in and ready to be taken out as well.
Oh well, she meant well.



Anyway, there are SOOOOOOOOO many decisions to make and planning to do!!

Bridesmaid Dresses

I have been trying to find a Bridesmaid dress in a style that will be most flattering for all body types. Jon and I have not finished deciding on our bridal party yet, but I want to be prepared.
Also, I want my bridesmaids in identical dresses and only my MOH to have a slightly different dress. So I am doing my best to find something accommodating for every bridesmaid, so they don't have to have different dresses, thus ruining my dream of uniformity in my bridal party.


So I just came across this dress...And I see that there are two other similar dresses, with slightly differing tops. So then my MOH can have a slight difference in her dress than the Bridesmaids.




Style 1 My Favorite!




Style 2






Style 3





This dress comes in 3 similar styles as well.
As long as that shade of pink doesn't make them look like bottles of Pepto Bismol!!